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How Popular Are Video Games Really?
Video Games In The Market Place - A Big Deal One can see that it is a fact that video games, especially violent ones, are being bought at high rates. Video games are becoming more and more popular as the years progress. Grand Theft Auto V, one of the most popular violent video games came into sale in 2013, in the first week of sales it was able to obtain one billion dollars (Shacksford, 2013, p.1). In general, the global video game market was valued at 70.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 (http://www.statista.com/statistics/308454/gaming-revenue-countries/). ''' 'Some sales numbers from recent video game launches: ' * PS4 Star Wars Battlefront (2015) 2,939,473 *PS4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 794,662 *PS4 Fallout 4 697,747 *PS4 FIFA 16 198,265 *PS4 Need for Speed (2015) 173,516 *XOne Star Wars Battlefront (2015) 1,547,019 *XOne Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 476,328 *XOne Fallout 4 423,459 *PC Star Wars Battlefront (2015) 171,677 (Numbers obtained from vgchartz.com, last updated November 2015) '''Typical Research Conducted T'o Examine Link Between Violent Video Games And Increased Violence In Children' The effect of violent video games is something that has been researched by psychologists and policy makers as well as the general public for many years now (Ferguson, 2011, p.1). Violent video game research and how it is linked to real world violence in youth is something that is being examined closely today. However even with all the research, no one has successfully found a link to violent video games and real would violence. The typical research performed involves having two groups of youth, one which normally plays violent video games and the other that does not. They are told to play a violent game and are examined afterwards. After around fifteen minutes the attitudes and hostility of the subjects are observed and taken into consideration. While research shows that some of the participants did become hostile by creating loud noises and exhibiting increased irritation it would still be irrational to assume that playing violent games would result in increased real world violence (Markey, 2013, p.1). The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) states, “blaming video games for violence in the real world is no more productive than blaming the news media for bringing crimes of violence into our homes night after night" (Moltenbrey, 2009, p.1). As video games have gained popularity as an escape of America's youth, the industry has become increasingly successful. It managed to earn $6.9 billion in sales in 2002. An estimated 145 million Americans play video games, and adults buy nine out of every 10 games sold, according to industry statistics. According to NPD, 91 percent of U.S. children ages 2-17 play video games (64 million). The video game market is growing with an average of at least ninety-seven percent of America’s youth playing video games. Of this percent, the average young video game player attempt to limit the amount of time their children spend playing such video games (Mary, USA Today pg. 6a). There are three views of video game violence and its effects in children violence and aggression. The first view is that video games have a reflective ability, this means that when children see something done they will mimic the actions and perform them themselves. The second view is that children who already have mental illnesses will be somehow drawn to these types of video games. Scholars argue against this point though by stating, “violent video games and their link in the development of increased aggression in youth with mental health issues continues to be a controversial topic in the scholarly community and the general public” (Ferguson, 2015, Digital Poison?). Lastly is the view that there are other variables that have to be considered for discovering the link between violent video games and aggression (Ferguson, 2011, p.2). The evidence has been structurally weak and is unable to give a good idea of what the link is between violent video games and aggression. The possible links are coming from violent crimes that are happening in the world around us. Researchers try to make those cases fit so they can blame violent video games even though the evidence does not support the link between them (Peckham, 2013, p.1&2). Some researchers have stated that violent video games do not cause a copycat syndrome to take effect, rather troubled youth use violent video games to act out negative attitudes (Wood, pg. 3). Research does however show that playing violent video games does indeed increase aggression for a short amount of time, but a definite link to playing violent video games and prolonged increased aggression has yet to be found. Although some cases have been shown to support an increase in violence due to violent video games. “Boxer, Huesmann, Bushman, O’Brien, and Moceri, found that retrospective reports of playing violent video games in childhood among adjudicated delinquent youth and high school students from high‐risk schools in Michigan predicted self‐reported serious criminal violence in later adolescence including the use of knives and guns.” (Ybarra, 2014, pg. 346). Van Horn stated: "Most children are probably not harmed at all by their casual and recreational use of video games. However, it does seem that there are subgroups within the population of children who may indeed be "at risk" when it comes to playing violent video games. Heavy gamers are naturally more at risk since they have so much more exposure to the games. Young children are another group that is more likely to be at risk. And other research suggests that children with low self-concepts or low mental age are at risk as well" (Van Horn, R.pg. 173). 'Additional Research Conducted' A survery was recently given at random to students around the campus of Delaware Technical Community College. The students were asked to answer eight questions pertaining to video game violence and its effects on youth in terms of increased aggression and real world violence. Out of the randomly selected twenty five participants ninety-two percent played video games. Only forty percent thought that video games increased the chance of real world violence. Ninety-two percent thought that children and youth should be able to play mature rated games if bought by the parents, while sixty percent thought that the parents should actively watch the content that the children are being exposed to. Sixty percent thought that video games were being unfairly accused of being the problem with increased violence in youth, while forty-eight percent said that they know someone who has had a short violent outburst while playing a violent video game. Forty percent believed that violent video games would increase bullying between children, while forty percent also believed violent games increased the likelihood of children carrying and using weapons. There are still many mixed feelings about violent video games between various people, but the results of the survey show a balanced opinion of video games causing violence but not causing violence in children and youth. If violent video games were to blame for increased aggression, then the incidents of rape and assault should rise considering the rising sales of these types of video games in the past fifteen years (Markey, 2013, p.2). While studying the effects of video games scholars have noticed that as video games become more popular, the violence displayed in video games increase, and graphics become more advanced, that the violence in youth has steadily decreased over the years (Ferguson 2014, pg. 324). In 2005 the American Psychological Association (APA), which is the largest association of psychologists, tried to push for the “reduction of all violence in video games and interactive media marketed to children and youth.” Christopher Ferguson, an American psychologist, stated that the studies done do not reflect any sign of “consistent evidence” to provide proper evidence to link increased violence to video games (Peckham 2013, p.2). What Other Negative Effects Can Violent Games Cause? With all the studies and evidence showing that there is still not a true link between video game violence and real world violence, video games still remain the general public’s favorite excuse for increased violence in the world. The reason people are able to so easily blame video games is due to the fact that it is still a newer form of entertainment for the public compared to the alternative, such as books or television (Shackford, 2013, p.2). Bill Blake said it best when he stated “Video games don't make people violent any more than explicit lyrics make teens get pregnant” (Blake, 2008, p.1). Blaming video games for increased world violence is not the answer no matter how much scholars and people want it to be, what needs to be done is solid research so that people can be better informed and less motivated to blame video games for the violence in the world when they are unrelated to each other. (Peckham 2013, p.2). Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman spent many years training and examining how to get soldiers to kill in war, being considered an expert in this area he stated confidently, “The techniques used by the Army to enable soldiers to kill are the very same techniques used in today's violent video games.” Some scholars argue that violent video games not only affect the players in the short term sense, but if played enough the violence will eventually lead to the possibility of a mass shooting (Ferguson, 2014, pg.324). It seems that if this is true that video games could be linked to increased violence in anyone who plays them, including children, but the link still remains unclear. (Van Horn, R., pg. 173) Along with increased violence, other harmful effects with a possible link to violent games and other illnesses have been researched. “Cross-lagged path analyses has shown that if someone frequently plays violent video games it will negatively affect the player reducing their interpersonal trust over the period of one year, especially involving victim-sensitive players (Rothmund, 2015, pg. 1). Interpersonal trust loss is not the only other problem associated with increased violence from video games. Depression has also been examined to see if there is a link between it and children exposed to violent games for long periods of time. There has only been a few studies conducted that involved testing to see if depression and video games were linked, but the studies did not focus on violent video games specifically, and only a small few examined this connection in preadolescent or adolescent youth. Researchers who performed the study noticed that depression does not increase immediately after playing the violent video games, but long term effects have yet to be discovered (Tortolero, 2014, pg. 610). Not many studies have been conducted to find a link between depression and violent video games, but nonetheless there is a chance for that link to still exist and therefore scholars are unable to exclude it as a factor. 'Video Games Can Have Positive Effects! ' Violent video games are usually examined based on their negative effects towards children, but they do have some positive effects as well. Research shows that digital games can promote hand-eye coordination and foster abstract thinking, better decision making, systems thinking, problem solving, logistical planning, strategy, and accuracy under stress and pressure (Mary, USA Today, pg. 6a). Ferguson also mentioned that playing violent video games will increase the scores of visuospatial cognition, which is the ability to cognitively understand and control visual information, of the people playing (https://www.tamiu.edu/newsinfo/11-16-07/article5.shtml). Playing violent, heavy action video games could improve teenagers' eyesight, according to a study in the May issue of Nature Neuroscience. After approximately fifty hours of playing violent video games a group of youth teenagers were examined. The researchers found that the teenagers showed a forty-three percent increase in the contrast sensitivity function (Violent Video Games Enhance Teens' Vision? 2009, pg.1). It was also found that some surgeons were able to perform their jobs with better accuracy after playing violent video games (https://www.tamiu.edu/newsinfo/11-16-07/article5.shtml). Game developers are also starting to create games that have positive outlooks on society and teach the players the values upheld by our society and culture. The project is known as the “Values at Play” project, the game designers are calling for meaningful development to promote values that Western democracies demonstrate. Research on this new type of design is still being conducted, but there are still only small amounts of data being examined (Mary, USA Today, pg. 6a). Video games, including violent ones, are able to provide us with benefits, but because the scientific community sometimes can be quick to judge, it has given the general public faulty information that is unfortunately being taken as truth. There is simply no link to provide evidence of violence increasing from violent games (https://www.tamiu.edu/newsinfo/11-16-07/article5.shtml). A lot of items we use today have ratings attached to them, such as books or movies, the same goes for video games. These ratings are in place to help guide the parents to what would be appropriate for their children. The Supreme Court gives video games sanctuary under the first amendment, the government is not going to intervene in taking them away. An adult has a choice to do whatever they please, but the issue is that children would probably be better off not bearing witness to everything that is available. California has passed a law in their state that makes it illegal for the sale of “ultra-violent” video games, those that show a lot of gore or major injuries to human beings, to anyone under the age of eighteen without parental consent. To counter this action the video games companies have attempted to sue to get rid of the laws which it has done successfully in other states (Going after Video Game Violence, pg. 1). Currently all? All responsibility to avoid use of violent video games relies fully on the parents of the youth, and that is where it belongs (Shacksford, 2013, p.1&2). ''' '''What Parents Can Do To Avoid The Negative Effects There are several ways for parents to help avoid the effects that violent video games have on their children: *The first way would be to examine the rating that the EntertainmentSoftware Rating Board (ESRB) gave the video game, if it is rated M for mature it should be avoided if buying it for youth. The ESRB is a self-regulatory body established in 1994 by the Interactive Digital Software Association. *Parents should try to avoid putting video game equipment in their children’s rooms. This would allow the parent to keep an eye on the type of video games their child is playing. Setting a time limit that the child is able to play video games a day is recommended in order to avoid long exposure to violence. *As video games evolve and become more popular, parents should actively monitor the activity of the online play since online multiplayer games are becoming more popular (Tips for Parents: Video Games and Your Children, pg. 1). The problem with parents trying to examine the games their children are playing is that most do not take the time to play through the entire game, which can take upwards of 100 hours on some video games in the market today, which means if the ending of the game becomes more violent the parent will be unaware (Van Horn, R., pg. 173). *Talking about video games with one’s child and explaining what the negative effects of video games are and how they can have a negative impact of the child is suggested as well (Tips for Parents: Video Games and Your Children, Pg. 1). There May Never Be A Clear Answer There will always be violence in the world we live in, and people will always need something to blame for the cause of the violence. Video games will always be under attack because of the violence and popularity of them, and currently there is no sign of video game popularity slowing down. With their violence and how easy it is for children to get ahold of them it will be an issue for years to come. Do video games make children and youth violent? There may never be a definite answer for anyone to discover, but scholars and people alike will continue to search for an answer. Violent video games seem to only take real negative effects of those who have a history of an illness. They become susceptible to the influences of violence because of their mental illness and end up doing violent actions that an average human would not do. Violent games currently cannot be linked to real world violence because the majority of people who function in society normally would not be effected the same way someone with a mental illness would be.